Apple has recorded the biggest quarterly profits ever made by a
public company, as sales of its new plus-sized spiked over Christmas.
Apple said on Tuesday that it sold 74.5 million iPhones during the
three months that ended on 31 December, beating all predications about
the new device, which was introduced in September.
The Associated Press
said that the surge in sale of the phones drove the company’s total
revenue to $74.6bn, up 30 per cent from a year earlier. Net profit rose
38 per cent to $18bn, as Apple reported earnings of $3.06 a share.
Analysts were expecting earnings of $2.60 a share on revenue of
$67.39bn.
The new models also helped Apple increase its share of
the Chinese market. Apple does not break down iPhone sales by country,
but a report issued on Tuesday by research firm Canalys estimated that
Apple sold more smartphones in China during the last quarter than any
other maker, including South Korea’s Samsung and the Chinese companies
Huawei and Xiaomi.
Given that the retail price of the iPhone is
much greater than that of phones made by Chinese vendors, Canalys called
this “"an amazing result".
Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told the AP that
revenue for the current period will increase between 14 and 20 percent
from a year ago, despite the strong dollar, which has forced other
companies to lower their forecasts. "We feel very good about the March
quarter," he said.
Apple has set records with each new version of
its iPhones. By comparison, the company sold 51mn smartphones during the
holiday quarter in 2013, when its iPhone 5s and 5c models were new on
the scene.
Bigger screens are one reason for the popularity of the
iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Apple had resisted when other companies such as
Samsung began introducing smartphones with bigger screens.
Yet
some experts worry that Apple's strength could become a weakness. Apple
makes more money from iPhones than any other product, including its
iPods, iPads and Mac computers. That could leave it vulnerable as the
overall smartphone market shows signs of slowing growth, warned BGC
Partners analyst Colin Gills, who noted in a recent report that Apple
depends on iPhones for nearly two-thirds of its revenue.
